[NT] How do measure success?

[Tamske]

I agree with the "success is subjective" these. For me it's reaching a goal you want to reach and getting positive feedback on those things.

If somebody says my choice of fashion is awful, I don't see it as a failure because I don't care about fashion.
If my students earn good marks on their exams (exams which reflect the learning goals, of course!), that's a success (for me as well as for the students themselves) because it means I've taught them well. And I care about that, I want to be a good teacher.
If hubby takes a second helping from whatever I cooked, that's a success. A small one indeed, but whatever - it makes me happy.

Right now I'm teetering on a decision about my science fiction novel. I've worked on it for more than a year, but it doesn't seem right and I can't make it work, despite my best efforts. Should I abandon the project? Giving up is a failure indeed, but maybe it's better to admit failure and start a new one than to keep up flogging a dead horse. But is that horse really dead? I don't know.

 

[mochajava]

What's very important to me is to have an internally-imposed definition of success, not an outward one. Having and working towards an outward one has made me feel like someone faking it whose not really doing what they want to do. That was a big/important realization for me, and that's when I wrote the list pasted above of what I truly love. I'm not a money person... recognition is okay, but more than anything is feeling like you're improving, helping, and contributing.